Author Topic: Swappin' CPUs (Read 263 times)

Baine · « **on:** May 29, 2003, 10:05:21 AM »

With Tour of Duty coming up and AMD prices coming down I'm beginning to think about upgrading my Duron 800 for an Athalon.
I have several newbie questions.
I've never swapped CPUs that needed thermal paste. Is the old stuff easy to remove without damaging the MB or its heat detecting sensor?
Also, I know my Socket A MB supports both 200 mhz and 266 mhz FSB, but is there anything else I should be checking when I try to determine which Athalon I can run? (The documentation on the board says it runs Athalons at 1+ ghz and I've seen it bundled with a XP 2100, which runs at 1.7ghz, but I was thinking about going even faster)
Third and final question. I'm running Win98. I see Athalon has named their faster Socket A CPUs AMD Athalon XP. Anyone know if these CPUS have any issues with Win98?
Thans

Ghosth · « **Reply #1 on:** May 29, 2003, 11:49:24 AM »

Win 98 runs fine on my AMD XP 2000.
No sweat on that front.

Choose your cpu wisely, go to fast & you'll get a cpu that won't boot up on that mboard. To be positive contact the motherboard tech support to see what they'd recomend.

As to the thermal paste, get some Artic Silver 2, scrape the old stuff off carefully.

Apply a VERY thin layer so thin that it won't squeeze out & down the sides of the core.

A bit of lighterfluid or alcohol may help to clean up the heatsink. However you need to ask yourself if its enough heatsink for the processor your getting?

The higher you go the more cooling you need. Probably best to get a new heatsink/fan rated for your processor.

Siaf__csf · « **Reply #2 on:** May 29, 2003, 01:48:44 PM »

Yeah the old thermal paste is not a problem because you WILL have to get a new heatsink/fan with your new CPU.

That is unless you want to fry the new cpu within the first seconds after the boot.

That way, your only problem is to remove the possible thermal pad in the new hs/fan and apply some arctic silver or similar to the new CPU core. Only on the core (square thing in the middle.)

Also take notice that recently AMD has made a statement that using arctic silver and similar pastes which are potentially conductive will void your warranty.

There are alternatives such as the good ol' silica, but they're not quite as effective.

acetnt · « **Reply #3 on:** May 29, 2003, 01:54:08 PM »

Baine,

definitely go to the motherboard web site and check what is the max freq supported cpu. Many manufacturors update bios to recognise higher freq cpu. Check if you can flash your bios to do so. Choose an AMD processor with 266FSB - for your motherboard. You most likely have to select this option in your bios when u boot first time.

Athlon XPs are good cpus - no probs with win 98. They run much cooler than older athlons so if your motherboard supports them then buy XP.

With motherboards so much cheaper now - you may wnat to consider an upgrade of both motherboard and cpu :-) - best way to good - downside is - still may have to spend on new ram.....

Acetnt

DoctorYO · « **Reply #4 on:** May 29, 2003, 03:28:56 PM »

AMD Boxed CPU's have a approved fan and thermal grease in them...

OEM = you on your own...

I recently went from duron 1000mhz to a XP 2000 (running at approx 1600mhz) with no problems.

It consisted of the following:

1. remove old CPU....

2.open boxed xp2000 install heatsink and fan along with thermal grease. AMD provides instructions if this is new to you...

3. set FSB setting on your motherboard from 200 mhz to 266 mhz...

4. turn on system and cross fingers that it posts....

5. enjoy new kickass system.. (no reference to kickass gear for you old schoolers)

No reinstall of OS should be needed...

Download the lastest bios for your motherboard and you should have no problems... unless you have some old worn out MB with no upgradability.

2cents

DoctorYo